Update: Grand Jury Indicts 2 of the RNC16—Totally Unacceptable!
August 8, 2016 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
From a Revolution Club member:
There is an outrageous development in the case of 16 people (overwhelmingly Revolution Club members) who were illegally arrested and hit with serious charges for peaceful protest in support of the burning of the American flag by Joey Johnson on July 20 outside the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. On August 4, two of the 16 (the RNC16) were indicted by a grand jury—and even more charges were added to the already flagrant repression against this action and the individuals involved.
Joey Johnson, with the support of the Revolution Club, burned the American flag outside the Republican National Convention to protest the toxic chauvinism and reactionary ideas of all stripes surrounding Trump’s nomination.
Joey Johnson—whose Supreme Court case Texas vs Johnson established flag burning as protected speech—and the Revolution Club were making a statement to the world that American lives are NOT more important than other people’s lives, in condemnation of the crimes of this system against the people of the world and in overall defiance of U.S. imperialism. (See “Drop the Charges on Notorious Flag Burner Joey Johnson and the RNC16!” for more on this action and the charges against them.)
The powers that be apparently can’t pull together a grand jury worth shit when it comes to indicting murderous police officers, as we have seen too often in recent years. But when truth-tellers like Joey Johnson and the Revolution Club exposed the real history and current reality of this country (in the midst of the raw celebration of U.S. domination, white supremacy, and misogyny that was the RNC) and burned the symbol of empire—the powers threw the book at them. That is because their authority is ARBITRARY and ILLEGITIMATE. And that is what people everywhere should understand, and mobilize to fight and defeat.
The charges against one defendant now include two counts of felony “assaulting an officer” (aka being assaulted by an officer). Both defendants indicted by the grand jury had two misdemeanor charges added, including “resisting arrest” (aka being violently arrested by hordes of police—piles of them on each individual). This represents a serious escalation and shows the prosecutors’ intent to punish people for their powerful, peaceful political statement that day. All of the original charges, against Johnson and the rest of them, should have been dismissed on the spot. Instead, the courts are “upping the ante.”
ALL THIS MUST BE ACTIVELY OPPOSED! People everywhere who are concerned about justice need to take a stand NOW against this outrageous political repression. And all those who care about the people of the world, and about ending all the unnecessary oppression and exploitation worldwide, should learn more about the Revolution Club and the actual revolution that they are building for.
- Sign your name to the call demanding ALL these bogus charges be dropped, donate what you can to help with legal fees, contribute your time and your ideas to spreading this story and gaining more support to defeat these charges. The next court hearing for these two defendants is August 18 in Cleveland. Anyone in the area should be there to show their support. Go to revbookscle.org for details about the court hearing.
- Go to www.revcom.us to dig into what it will take to overthrow this system, and be part of getting humanity out from under the boot of this repressive, illegitimate, rotten system once and for all.
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